Widow Sisters and Friends (Restoring Our Broken Hearts): Book 2

Safe and Sound: Part 7

Summary: In the aftermath of torturous disaster, Yelena is the only one that can pick up the pieces of what is left of Natasha's mind and bring her back to who she was before. Fortunately, Natasha is extremely receptive to her efforts and craves her baby sister's nearness and comfort.

    "Come on, poser... I know those bones creak and whine, but you're not too old to pull the old peanut butter butt up here just yet," Yelena teased with a huge grin as she turned around toward the ladder that she had balance. Natasha was hauling herself up it, and at Yelena's comment, she simply rolled her eyes. However, she nevertheless did take Yelena's hand as she let her pull her up the rest of the way onto the roof of their little house.

It had been a rough day and when they had gotten home from their walk, Yelena had forced Natasha to take a nap with her. Kate had hesitantly left them there at Yelena's insistence, and as soon as Natasha had laid down, she had fallen asleep in Yelena's arms, Yelena protectively holding her.

Now, it was nighttime and they had just had dinner, but Yelena had gotten the wild idea to go up on the roof to see if they could see the stars from there. Which brought them to where they were now where Yelena was dragging Natasha to the rooftop.

As soon as Natasha was up there with her, Yelena guided her over to a flatter part of the roof. The both of them very slowly and carefully eased down so that they were sitting down, and they laid down on their backs as they looked up at the sky.

Yelena could not help but grin widely as she took in the sky full of stars above them. It likely was not as good as it could have been if they had been at Clint Barton's house, but it was a fairly decent view, and there were a fair amount of stars above them.

Yelena looked over at her big sister, and Natasha turned her head to meet her gaze, the both of them smiling ridiculously in spite of themselves. They finally looked back up at the sky above them.

"That is amazing... I can't remember seeing this many stars ever," Yelena expressed, and Natasha smiled gently as she extended her hand for Yelena's arm. Yelena complied, allowing her to draw letters and words against her skin to communicate.

At Clint's house, I spent the night outside camping with the kids one time. So many stars. But I did not know we would have this many stars here.

Yelena nodded slowly, taking in the words quietly.

She finally looked over at her big sister again, taking in the softness in her features and how gentle and calm she looked in this moment. She looked happy but melancholy at the same time, and it was an odd expression on her face.

Yelena swallowed, trying to figure out what to say. She knew that they needed to talk about what had happened earlier that day. More than anything, she knew that Natasha needed to talk about what had happened about a week ago now. She had not uttered a word about what had happened to her, and while Yelena had not been wanting to push, she could not just stand by and let Natasha keep hurting like this and holding things back.

"What happened?" Yelena whispered finally in that typical blunt manner, looking at Natasha as she eyed the side of her face. She was not a particular fan of how she had finally ended up addressing the problem, but she figured that she could not really sugarcoat it at this point. She had to know, and Natasha had to tell her. It was the only way to heal. Playing this game where they danced around it was only causing Natasha to suffer more.

Natasha looked over at her, sadness and a sense of knowing shining in her eyes as she met Yelena's eyes. Those light greens were even prettier there in the moonlight falling upon the roof, and Yelena found herself simultaneously haunted and enchanted by their depth.